Using a Blender to Assess the Microbial Density of Encapsulated Organisms

There are specific NASA requirements for source-specific encapsulated microbial density for encapsulated organisms in non-metallic materials. Projects such as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) that use large volumes of non-metallic materials of planetary protection concern pose a challenge to their bioburden budget. An optimized and adapted destructive hardware technology employing a commercial blender was developed to assess the embedded bioburden of thermal paint for the MSL project. The main objective of this optimization was to blend the painted foil pieces in the smallest sizes possible without excessive heating. The small size increased the surface area of the paint and enabled the release of the maximum number of encapsulated microbes. During a trial run, a piece of foil was placed into a blender for 10 minutes. The outside of the blender was very hot to the touch. Thus, the grinding was reduced to five 2-minute periods with 2-minute cooling periods between cycles. However, almost 20% of the foil fraction was larger (>2 mm). Thus, the largest fractions were then put into the blender and reground, resulting in a 71% increase in particles less than 1 mm in size, and a 76% decrease in particles greater than 2 mm in size. Because a repeatable process had been developed, a painted sample was processed with over 80% of the particles being <2 mm. It was not perceived that the properties (i.e. weight and rubber-like nature) of the painted/foil pieces would allow for a finer size distribution. With these constraints, each section would be ground for a total of 10 minutes with five cycles of a 2-minute pulse followed by a 2-minute pause. It was observed on several occasions that a larger blade affected the recovery of seeded spores by approximately half an order of magnitude. In the standard approach, each piece of painted foil was aseptically removed from the bag and placed onto a sterile tray where they were sized, cut, and cleaned. Each section was then weighed and placed into a sterile Waring Laboratory Blender. Samples were processed on low speed. The ground-up samples were then transferred to a 500-mL bottle using a sterile 1-in. (.2.5-cm) trim brush. To each of the bottles sterile planetary protection rinse solution was added and a modified NASA Standard Assay (NASA HBK 6022) was performed. Both vegetative and spore plates were analyzed

Development of a Centrifugal Technique for the Microbial Bioburden Analysis of Freon (CFC-11)

NASA Procedural Requirement 8020.12C entitled "Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions" states that the source-specific encapsulated microbial density for encapsulated organisms (div(0)) in nonmetallic materials ranges from 1-30 spores/cubic cm. The standard laboratory procedure, NASA Standard Procedures for the Microbial Examination of Space Hardware, NHB 5340.1B, does not provide any direction into the methodologies to understand the bioburden within such a fluid as CFC-11 (Freon). This general specification value for the Freon would be applicable to the Freon charged within the Mars Science Laboratory fs (MSL fs) Heat Rejection System. Due to the large volume required to fill this system, MSL could not afford to conservatively allocate 55.8% of the total spore budget of the entire laboratory system (rover, descent stage, cruise stage, and aeroshell) of 5.00 X 10(exp 5) spores at launch. A novel filtration approach was developed to analyze the Freon employing a 50 kDa molecular weight cutoff (MCO) filter, followed by 0.22-micron pore-size filter to establish a calculated microbial bioburden

Adaptation of a Filter Assembly to Assess Microbial Bioburden of Pressurant Within a Propulsion System

A report describes an adaptation of a filter assembly to enable it to be used to filter out microorganisms from a propulsion system. The filter assembly has previously been used for particulates greater than 2 micrometers. Projects that utilize large volumes of nonmetallic materials of planetary protection concern pose a challenge to their bioburden budget, as a conservative specification value of 30 spores per cubic centimeter is typically used. Helium was collected utilizing an adapted filtration approach employing an existing Millipore filter assembly apparatus used by the propulsion team for particulate analysis. The filter holder on the assembly has a 47-mm diameter, and typically a 1.2-5 micrometer pore-size filter is used for particulate analysis making it compatible with commercially available sterilization filters (0.22 micrometers) that are necessary for biological sampling. This adaptation to an existing technology provides a proof-of-concept and a demonstration of successful use in a ground equipment system. This adaptation has demonstrated that the Millipore filter assembly can be utilized to filter out microorganisms from a propulsion system, whereas in previous uses the filter assembly was utilized for particulates greater than 2 micrometers

Strategies to Encourage Recall and Prevent Relapse after Full Mouth Rehabilitation under General Anesthesia in Children

Background: Dental caries are preventable. Dentists utilize many prevention strategies in the office and provide at-home education to families. However, once a child develops Early Childhood Caries (ECC), especially in more severe cases, they may need general anesthesia (GA) to complete treatment. While this is an effective way to achieve full mouth dental rehabilitation (FMDR), this burdens the healthcare systems and families and does not come without risk to the patient. Patients with high caries experience remain at high risk of caries relapse after FMDR under GA, sometimes necessitating additional FMDR under GA. While there has been a significant amount of research on dental caries and prevention strategies, there has yet to be a comprehensive preventive program for children with a high risk of developing dental caries that has been shown to work consistently. Objectives: This literature review compiles research on preventing the relapse of dental caries to identify the causes of caries recurrence in children after FMDR under GA. Methods: A systematic review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework and four databases: CINAHL, Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source, Embase, and PubMed. Results: The search resulted in 430 articles, which, after applying the PRISMA framework, thirty of those articles were found to be relevant to the identifying factors that relate to high caries relapse rates after children have FMDR under GA. The articles were reviewed, and the common demographic, physical, behavioral, and socioeconomic themes were determined. Conclusions/implications: The relapse rate of dental caries after children have FMDR under GA is high. There has been a significant amount of research regarding the high caries recurrence that children experience, with many articles having similar themes but with no overly successful prevention programs. Caries prevention programs are not one-size-fits-all and must be individualized to the patient and their family

Employing a Grinding Technology to Assess the Microbial Density for Encapsulated Organisms

Projects that utilize large volumes of nonmetallic materials of planetary protection concern pose a challenge to their bioburden budget, as the most conservative value of 30 spores/cubic cm is typically used. The standard laboratory procedures do not provide any direction into the methodologies to understand the embedded bioburden within such nonmetallic components such as adhesives, insulation, or paint. A tailored, novel, destructive hardware technology employing a household box grater was developed to assess the embedded bioburden within the adhesives, insulation, and paint for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) project

Computational Intelligence in Highway Management: A Review

Highway management systems are used to improve safety and driving comfort on highways by using control strategies and providing information and warnings to drivers. They use several strategies starting from speed and lane management, through incident detection and warning systems, ramp metering, weather information up to, for example, informing drivers about alternative roads. This paper provides a review of the existing approaches to highway management systems, particularly speed harmonization and ramp metering. It is focused only on modern and advanced approaches, such as soft computing, multi-agent methods and their interconnection. Its objective is to provide guidance in the wide field of highway management and to point out the most relevant recent activities which demonstrate that development in the field of highway management is still important and that the existing research exhibits potential for further enhancement

Linking biodiversity and ecology of fungi from pine and spruce needles

Přírodovědecká fakult

Organization of the Czech National Cup in freestyle snowboarding in Špindlerův mlýn 2013

62 s. :obr., tab. +CD ROMTéma práce je ,,Organizace Českého poháru ve freestyle snowboardingu ve Špindlerově Mlýně 2013?, věnuje se vypracování podkladů a rozborů pro úspěšnou přípravu a uskutečnění snowboardového závodu jak po organizační, tak ekonomické stránce. Součástí praktické části práce je proto také vypracovaný rozpočet, analýza konkurence a SWOT analýza projektu. V teoretické části práce je popsán snowboarding jako celé sportovní odvětví, je nastíněna jeho historie, vývoj a současnost, je zde vysvětlena základní terminologie snowboardingu a charakterizovány snowboardové disciplíny. Zvláště podrobně je popsán freestyle snowboarding, jež je předmětem práce

Marketing Strategy of Marina de Portimao

Práce je zaměřena na poznání aktuálního trhu a konkurence přístavu Portim\ ao v Portugalsku. Cílem je navrhnout adekvátní marketingovou strategii, která pomůže přístavu zlepšit svoji pozici na trhu a hlavně v konkurenčním boji. Teoretická část seznamuje se základnímy termíny a nástroji marketingu (marketingová strategie, marketingový mix, cílený marketing). Druhá část práce je věnována analyzování aktuálního stavu na trhu a konkurence. Tato část obsahuje analýzu aktuálního trhu (2004 - 2006), výsledků přístavu Portimao, definování hlavních konkurentů včetně jejich detailní analýzy (podíl na trhu, marketingový mix, strategie). Projektová část nabízí řešení v podobě marketingové strategie, která vychází z výsledků provedených analýz.This thesis proposes a marketing strategy based on an analysis of the market and the competitors of the Marina de Portim\ ao. The first part introduces some basic terms and concepts of marketing (marketing strategy, marketing mix, target marketing, ). The second part analyzes the dynamics of the market and describes the main competitors of the Marina de Portim\ ao. The third part proposes a marketing strategy for the Marina de Portimao that is designed to gain greater market share and defend against competitor'.Ústav marketingových komunikacíobhájen